The York Dungeon

pickledgarlic

Good, scary fun 11th April 2009

2 found this helpful

Although others had told us we could be queuing for an hour we were only there for 20 minutes and were entertained by one of the actors in costume, a plague victim, with an amusing patter and mild teasing of the queue, which meant the experience really started from the moment we entered the street.

This was my first visit to York Dungeons and I found it much more intimate and less 'Disney' than I expected. There are exhibits and written explanations on the walls, but as you walk a dark and winding passage from room to room, the experience is mainly dependent on the actors. Fortunately they have a fantastic crew of guys/gals who put maximum effort into playing characters from the past, particularly on our trip, the female judge in the courtroom, who had good mastery of adlib wit. One word of warning, there's plenty of interaction between visitor and actor, so don't go if you're highly sensitive or can't take a bit of ribbing.

Suspense is built up nicely and by the end all of us were looking over our shoulders nervously. The gift shop is small and appropriate, and there's also an opportunity to buy a posed photo in the stocks. Entrance was £14 per adult, but if you book online it's a third cheaper, and then you get priority entrance avoiding the queue.

By the way, during the visit, 3 different small children were led out crying. The dungeons don't recommend it for youngsters - the real actors and the closeness make it much more realistic than any film. Second, there's no reminder to turn off mobile phones, which there should be, because a couple of people in our group got text messages in the middle of a suspenseful tale in the dark, and it really does spoil the atmosphere.